Free Tool
Retainer Pricing Calculator
Price your retainers for profit, not just coverage. Calculate the right monthly fee based on your costs, margin target, and hours.
Your retainer
$65
Salary + benefits + overhead per billable hour
40%
Healthy agencies target 30-50%
80h
Hours your team will deliver monthly
$175/hr
Rate for hours beyond the retainer scope
Recommended pricing
Recommended Monthly Fee
$8,667/mo
$108/hr effective rate (40% margin)
Monthly Cost
$5,200
breakeven point
Monthly Profit
$3,467
$43 profit per hour
Annual Revenue
$104,000
$41,600 annual profit
Overage Buffer
8h
$1,400 at overage rate
Pricing at 40% vs 20% Margin
+$26,000/yr
additional annual profit vs underpriced retainer at $6,500/mo
Underpriced (20% margin)$6,500/mo
Your price (40% margin)$8,667/mo
How we calculate this
- Monthly cost = fully-loaded hourly cost x estimated hours
- Monthly fee = monthly cost / (1 - target margin %)
- Effective rate = monthly fee / estimated hours
- Overage buffer = 10% of estimated hours (industry standard scope buffer)
- Fully-loaded cost should include salary, benefits, tools, and office overhead per hour
Track retainer hours in real time
Know exactly how many hours remain on every retainer. No end-of-month surprises.